Janet is a composite character. She's a former journalist, reporter for the New York Times and editor of Street News. She's a current how-to book writer for hire and mother of three living on the upper West Side. None of this has anything to do with the story that appears in this issue.

Dominick Angiello
essays

Dom, one of four brothers, was born in the Bronx, New York in 1940 of first generation Italian-American parents. He attended PS 95, then Fordham Prep, and finally Fordham College, where he specialized in tippling and eking out what was then called "the gentleman C." Nevertheless, he managed to go on to earn an M.A. and a Ph.D. (in medieval English literature) from Fordham. He is now a professor at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry. In 1980, Dom added general contractor to his resume, more or less in imitation of his idol, Geoffrey Chaucer who, for a time, had charge of construction and maintenance projects for Richard II. Having no royalty to serve, Dom has built and remodeled castles for the aristocracy of Westchester, N.Y. A few years ago, despite his best efforts, Dom's poetic urge reemerged-metastasized as a desire to write memoir. "The Store" is a symptom of that disease.

Aaron Bergeron
humor

Aaron is a writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He's made dozens of appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien -- usually playing an NBC page or wearing some sort of animal costume. Aaron's performed in numerous improv shows at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City.You may contact him at awesomefactory@aol.com.

Bill Bilodeau
columns

Bill is the editor of a small daily newspaper in New Hampshire. He studied creative writing at Harvard and is currently at work on a novel. He is married... with children.

Shannon Cannings
art gallery

Shannon is an artist currently living in Lubbock, Texas where she is a professor of art at Texas Tech University. Shannon is an alumni of Tyler School of Art and Syracuse University, from which she received her Masters of Art. Her work has been exhibited nationally.

Neesha Dosanjh
kids

Neesha has been published in various anthologies, journals, newspapers and magazines. She has produced two films which are currently being distributed internationally. Whether on film or in print, she tells universal stories with multicultural characters, paying particular attention to the lives of girls and women.

Kevin Durr
fiction

Kevin was born in New Hampshire. He went to Boston College and New York University, and despite the fact that he currently resides in Brooklyn, he remains a citizen of Red Sox Nation. He's in the process of completing his first novel.

Saara Dutton
essays

Saara arrived in New York a little over a year ago with the glamorous vision of becoming a dashing New York writer. A world filled with Algonquin round table discussions, huge publishing advances, and accepting awards humbly and graciously while teetering in Manolo Blahnik heels. However, despite having finished her first novel, Ms. Dutton spends no time negotiating huge advances and spends far too much time watching Columbo reruns on A&E and wondering if it’s okay to eat Swiss cheese that is two days past its legitimate sale date.

Mark Dworkin
reviews

Mark is a free-lance writer, editor, history educator, and book critic who lives in Toronto. His special interest is in American Old West history, as it relates to lawmen and crime. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the history of Tombstone, Arizona, and the 'Gunfight at the O. K. Corral. He is currently involved in several projects related to upgrade this area of history, formerly dominated by popularizers and buffs, and bringing it to a standard of professional history.

Mildred Ehrlich
memoirs

Mildred has been writing poetry since she was a child and has published in college literary journals, including Turning House, the journal of Union Theological Seminary, where she works as the Faculty Secretary and International Student Advisor. She has taken fiction and non-fiction workshops at the Writer’s Voice of the Westside Y in NYC and attended various writing conferences around the country. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Theater and a Master’s degree in Teaching ESL. Her Web site, www.englishforeverything.com, offers online editing services for native and non-native speakers of English. She was the development editor for several popular-level physics books by her brother, Robert Ehrlich, including Nine Crazy Ideas in Science/Some of Which May Even Be True… She has just finished writing a memoir, Beauty through Broken Glass.

Thomas Fast
memoirs

Thomas, a.k.a. Naked Man, is teaching English and Spanish to junior high and high school students in Japan. He studied art history at New York University and has traveled and lived throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia. His photographs have appeared in articles and magazines, and have been exhibited in Japan. He also makes guest appearances as a DJ at his local coffee house in Okayama City.

Robert Flanagan
best of

Last we heard, Robert was living on a tiny island 800 miles south west of Hawaii. With a Masters Degree in English and no job prospects he accepted a commission as an Army Lieutenant, a Reconnaissance Platoon Leader. He published a short story in Rosebud Magazine, a literary quarterly, and teaches English on the island.

Kermit Frazier
Fred Hudson Tribute

Mr. Frazier is currently the acting president of the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center. Mr. Frazier’s first play, Kernel of Sanity, was given staged readings at the 1979 Eugene O’Neill National Playwright Conference and his second play, Shadows and Echoes, was produced by the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center in 1981. That play also earned him four AUDELCO (black theater) award nominations. For two seasons he was head writer of Ghostwriter the popular mystery/adventure television series for young people. He has also spent a season as executive story supervisor and co-producer of Nickelodeon’s Gullah Gullah Island. And in the fall of 1998, Mr. Frazier wrote for the new Spelling Television drama series, Rescue 77. He has also been published in such magazines as Essence, Black World, The Chicago Review, American Theater, and The New York Times Book Review. His commitment to the arts was also passed on to students of writing and literature at Syracuse University, Williams College and the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center among others.

Christopher Frederick
art gallery

While primarily a photographer, Christopher also works in sculpture, performance and video. He has exhibited his art nationally in places such as the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee, WI; Edge Gallery in Denver, CO; Houston Center for Photography in Houston, TX; as well as Telomere Projects in Brooklyn, NY and Get Real Art in Manhattan, NY. Frederick was the recipient of a Graduate Fellowship to Syracuse University where he received his MFA. In addition he was a Fellow at the American Photography Institute National Graduate Seminar (now the International Photography Institute.)

Mark Goldblatt
reviews & best of

Mark Goldbatt teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology (and the State University of New York) and is the author of the novel “Africa Speaks” and co-author of “Missy Hyatt, The First Lady of Wrestling.” You may reach him at markgoldblatt.com.

Robin Goldfin
essays

Robin is a writer, dancer and teacher. His essay "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," about a week volunteering at a camp for children with HIV and AIDS, was listed as a Notable Essay of the Year in THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 1994. In the spring of 2001 he was the recipient of a writing award through "In Our Own Write" at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center in Manhattan. His play "It's Not Magic!" was presented in July 2002 in the Riant Theatre's Strawberry One-Act Festival. As a performer, Robin is proud to have danced for five years with Laurie DeVito's She-bops and Scats, a concert jazz dance company. He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University and teaches writing in NYU's General Studies Program. Robin is a member of The Dramatists Guild.

Paul Icyfields
reviews

Paul works at a large human resources concern. In his spare time he raconts at coffee shops for pastries.

Susan King
essays

Susan is a Canadian who is now living on Long Island and teaching at Hofstra University in the Foundations of Education. If you had met her in Toronto at TGIF she would have told you she is a tattoo artist and suggested outrageous designs for surprising parts of the body. She used to fly small planes, build cabins in northern Quebec, and has recently fallen in love.

Suzanne King
fiction

Suzanne King has learned what she knows about fiction writing and been inspired to write the stories she has written in the classes she has taken with Tim Tomlinson over the past few years. She also received a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from New School University.

A. K. Lehmann
essays

Ms. Lehmann received her M.F.A. in Nonfiction Writing from Sarah Lawrence College this past May. She spent the three years writing about her father's experience as a child in Berlin at the end of WWII - a silent history that largely and subconsciously, impacted her American life. She also writes personal finance advice for Smart Money magazine. Her essays and poems have appeared in: Mudfish, Elle, bigciylit.com, Lumina/For the Gathering (Sarah Lawrence graduate publications), School of Visual Arts Press and Universities West Press.

Ron Leach
art gallery

Ron , a native of Ohio, has worked as an artist and illustrator for a number of publications in Pittsburgh and New York including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and Executive Report. His artwork has been exhibited at alternative spaces such as Gerschwin Gallery, The Alehouse, DopDop, and the Goldstrum Gallery.

Johanna Li
kids illustrator

Johanna is an associate editor at Simon & Schuster. Despite repeated attempts at rehabilitation she still likes to draw.

Benjamin Malcolm
columns

Benjamin is a freelance writer based in Thailand. A former Thailand Peace Corps volunteer, he now lives and works in the northern town of Mae Hong Son, near the Burmese border.

Laura Emily Mason
memoirs

Laura is recently retired from her job as a Business Systems Analyst at a major U.S. Corporation. She now divides her time between working as a Reference Librarian in a public library and writing her memoir, Losing the Atmosphere.

Daniel McCoy
humor, illustrator

Daniel McCoy is a freelance writer and actor whose work has appeared in Modern Humorist and been performed on the NPR programs Rewind and Morning Edition. He is currently studying improvisation at the UCB theater. He lives in Brookyln. Email Daniel at dkirk78@yahoo.com.

Corey Mesler
poetry

COREY is the owner of Burke’s Book Store, in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the country’s oldest (1875) and best independent bookstores. He has published poetry and fiction in numerous journals including Pindeldyboz, Orchid, Black Dirt, Thema, Mars Hill Review, Poet Lore and others. He is also a book reviewer for The Memphis Commercial Appeal. A short story of his has been chosen for the 2002 edition of New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best, edited by Shannon Ravenel, published by Algonquin Books. His first novel, Talk: A Novel in Dialogue appeared in 2002, from Livingston Press.. He recently won the Monnfire Poetry Chapbook Competition and his winning entry will appear in 2003. Most importantly, he is Toby and Chloe’s dad and Cheryl’s husband. He may be reached at www.burkesbooks.com.

Margaret Hundley Parker
best of

Margaret Hundley Parker’s fiction and essays have been published in The Independent and The Sarah Lawrence Review, as well as being set to music at the North Carolina Literary Festival, animated on Oxygen.com, and recorded as part of a multi-media exhibit on indie rock at CBGBs. She writes frequently for the New York Times Book Review and Time Out New York. Other articles can be found in Travel & Leisure, American Woman Road & Travel, Satya Magazine as well as numerous websites. She was an editor at FIT magazine, and wrote the book “The K.I.S.S. Guide to Fitness” (Dorling Kindersley Publishing, May 2002). She has an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. She teaches writing at the Fashion Institute of Technology and through the Teachers & Writers Collaborative in New York City. "I Ain't Proud" is the first chapter of her recently completed first novel, "Below the Belt.

Michael Pingicer
art gallery

Michael is a resident of Brooklyn, NY and a student of Oriental Medicine. He enjoys capturing personal images when he is able to fit it in between herbs. He feels that the medium for expressing reality and fantasy is brilliantly contained within photography. He relaxes through cycling and cooking.

Jack Richold
poetry

Jack was born in 1977 in Somerset (UK) and has lived in Edinburgh for the past six years. He has published poetry in the Edinburgh literary magazine Smallfry and plays guitar in the band Mamilla. He is an illustrator of sorts. He is Involved in the Forest Community Arts-space and Venue. Jack has worked and traveled over several years in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Lynn Rosenthal
stage

The quality of Lynn's words, often described as "poetry set to music," creates an understated yet riveting appeal to her work in the singer/songwriter genre. Her songs are the product of both personal reflection and keen observation of the human condition. With titles such as "Force of Nature," and "Love Take Me Higher," Lynn's music isn't designed to transport you to faraway realms, but rather send you inward to the unexplored territory of the soul.
lynn@rainbowhawkmusic.com
www.rainbowhawkmusic.com

Hannele Rubin
columns

After a bad breakup with an Israeli Tank Commander, Bachelor Girl (now Mum’s the Word) purchased the entire "Relationships" section at Barnes & Noble. On her way out, she also grabbed a copy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez' 100 Years of Solitude. She is a 20-year veteran of fixup flops, bad bar pickup lines, great sex with bad men, and failed attempts to see the merits of socially maladjusted -- but marriage-minded -- guys. She's also a freelance journalist.

Ellen Schecter
essays

Ellen Schecter has published 24 books for children, and written, produced, or developed many multi-award-winning television series for children and families for PBS, Nickelodeon, Disney, and Discovery. Her first animated feature film project, RED SUN, has been optioned for development. Ellen was also Executive Producer of Voices of Lupus and of We're Here! Young Immigrants Tell Their Stories. She is a member of the Writer's Guild, ASCAP, The Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and PEN and is featured in Who's Who Among American Women, Who's Who In Entertainment, and Something About The Author.

Budd Schulberg
Fred Hudson Tribute

In the wake of the Los Angeles riots in the mid-60s, Mr. Schulberg helped found the Watts Writers Workshop and then, with Fred Hudson, co-founded, in 1971, the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center in New York City.

Born March 27, 1914 in New York City, Mr. Schulberg was raised in Hollywood, California. Because his father, B.P. Schulberg, worked for Paramount Studios, Mr. Schulberg was able to observe the film industry first-hand. His novel What Makes Sammy Run?, about the rise of a ruthless film magnate, was the National Critics' Choice as Best First Novel of the Year in 1941. Among his other works of fiction are The Disenchanted, The Harder They Fall, Some Faces in the Crowd, Sanctuary V, and Everything That Moves. His non-fiction works include From The Ashes: Voice of Watts, Loser and Champion: Muhammad Ali, The Four Seasons of Success and Swan Watch, the true story of a pair of swans with whom he made friends near his Eastern Long Island home.

He wrote the screenplays for A Face in the Crowd (1957) starring Andy Griffith, Walter Matthau and Patricia Neal, and On The Waterfront (1954), which earned eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), Best Supporting Actress (Eva Marie Saint), Best Director (Elia Kazan) and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay (Budd Schulberg). His autobiography, Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince, weaves his personal story through that of the pioneer film world into which he was born.

A lifelong fight fan (the only non-boxer ever honored as a Living Legend of Boxing by the World Boxing Association), he has published a collection of his boxing pieces, Sparring With Hemingway. He has also written a screenplay for director Spike Lee based on the Joe Louis-Max Schmeling fights that were seen as a symbol of the clash of Democratic America with Nazi Germany.

Schulberg continues to live and work on Eastern Long Island.

Manya Steinkoler
kids

Manya Steinkoler teaches English at the Fashion Institute of Technology and lives in New York City.

Mary Trodden
poetry illustrator

Mary graduated from Edinburgh College of art in 2001 after studying for a degree in drawing and painting. Afterwards, she continued to paint while taking part in organizing an arts program for a local arts collective; “Forest Arts,” based in Edinburgh’s historic “Grassmarket” area. She also helps produce “Smallfry” magazine, which seeks to provide a forum for graduate artists and writers. In addition, she makes designs for fabric and music covers for the “Dawn of the Replicants.”

Adrian Walker
Fred Hudson Tribute

Adrian Walker has written a twice-weekly column for the City & Region Section of the Boston Globe since December 1998. His column focuses on social issues and state and local politics, areas he has covered for more than a decade. Walker joined the Globe in 1989 as a general assignment reporter. A native of Miami, he attended Florida International University. He began his journalism career in 1986 as a general assignment and police reporter at the now-defunct Miami News.

Tony Whiteside
fiction

When not reading, writing, or wandering aimlessly, Tony is a creative supervisor at a large advertising agency. His writing has appeared in The Stamford Advocate, and he’s recently sold his first photographs. He holds an M.A. in American Cultural Studies from Columbia University, and lives in the Connecticut woods with his wife, daughter and catnip addicted cat. You can email Tony at tonyside@blackplanet.com.

Pat Wictor
stage

Pat writes spell-spinning songs, plays slowhand slide guitar, and offers reflections on a world careening beyond our control, from the place where Folk meets Blues. He is currently touring the Northeast in support of his third CD, "Temporary Stay," and leading the Songwriters Circle at The Actor’s Institute.
pat@patwictor.com
www.patwictor.com

Richard Willis
fiction

Richard Willis is both an actor and a teacher. As a professor of theater for twenty-five years, he taught and directed at Northwestern University where he received his Ph.D., and at Lewis & Clark College where he chaired the Department of Theater. As a member of Actors Equity (AEA), Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) for the last twenty years, he has appeared in film, TV, and regional theater. His roles in feature films include "Drugstore Cowboy," with Matt Dillon, "Cops & Robbers," with Ed Asner, and "The Last Innocent Man," with Ed Harris. For three years he was seen on "One Life to Live" as Asa Buchanan's butler, Nigel. Other recurring soap appearances include "All My Children" and "Another World." Richard has taught soap opera technique to actors at the AFTRA workshop, and Dramatic Literature at the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York.

Helen Zelon
memoirs

Helen's writing has appeared in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Family Circle, Brooklyn Bridge and Scientific American: Explorations. A proud booster of her adopted hometown (New York), she is a nonfiction contributor to Totally Brooklyn.

STAFF
Jonathan Kravetz
editor & Fred Hudson Tribute

Jonathan is best known for his ability to scratch his forehead and squint his eyes simultaneously. He is a writer, editor and some time trumpet player who spends too much time reading long feature stories on the world wide web. He is a co-founder of ducts and founder of the New York based reading series, Trumpet Fiction, held each month at KGB Bar in the east village. He has studied writing with a number of teachers in New York, including Alice Eliot Dark (fiction), the late Fred Hudson (screenwriting) and Alison Estes (children’s fiction) and he has held a number of odd jobs, including news reporter, taxi cab driver, projectionist and ducts installer (hmmmm). He currently works as a computer consultant. He has recently taken up improv comedy classes with the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater of NYC as a way to discover finer and more glorious ways of embarrassing himself on a weekly basis. You can contact him at editor@ducts.org.

Philip Shane
co-founder

Philip is a freelance film editor and co-founder of ducts. His programs have appeared on PBS, ABC, Cinemax, Lifetime Television, The Learning Channel, and in theaters and film festivals around the world. He lives in New York with his wife Julie.

Laura Buchholz
humor editor

Laura is a drifter with a series of meaningless jobs.

Anna Dufault
public promoter

Anna is a singer, comedian, and entertainer extraordinaire. She originally hails from Yakima, “The Palm Springs of Washington State,” but makes New York City her home now. She has studied with the American Comedy Institute, Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, and Wickham Vocal Studios. She directs, writes for, and performs with her “Contagious Sketch Comedy” group HERPES (Hilariously Entertaining Ruckus Promoting Existential Self-realization) and performs stand-up throughout the city. She is currently putting together a one-woman Cabaret Show that will headline at the Port Authority A,C,E soon.

Stephanie Hart
children's editor

Stephanie Hart teaches writing at F.I.T. and the Parsons School of Design and is currently the Children's editor at ducts. She has published a young adult novel. Her short stories have appeared in the magazines "Caprice," and "And Then," as well as the anthology, Mondo James Dean, published by St. Martin's Press in 1996. While her fiction and non-fiction has been included in recent issues of ducts, a personal essay appears in the anthology, Self Portraits: Language Learners in a Multicultural World, published in 2000 by Teachers College Press.

Rachelle Meyer
graphics

Rachelle is a freelance artist, designer and writer. She often works under the pseudonym Plasmotica Studios to seem worldly and mysterious. She loves bacon.

Anne Mironchik
treasurer and stage

Anne's songwriting reaches back to capture the classic brilliance of favorite hits by Carole King and Laura Nyro. She blurs the lines between jazz, country, rock and R&B, weaving melody and rhythm together in masterful ways. Her rich alto voice leads listeners from one genre to another as she explores the struggles, loves, fears and joys of everyday heroes. When she’s not writing great music, Anne is busy crunching numbers for ducts!
4newsongs@earthlink.net

Cindy Moore
art gallery editor

Cindy is a Brooklyn based artist, currently working in arts administration in Manhattan. Selected New York group shows include the Painting Center, Here Art Center and the Elsa Mott Ives Gallery. Her work has also been exhibited/screened in conjunction with Hallwalls Art Center (Buffalo NY), The Everson Museum (Syracuse NY) and the Museo de Contemporary Arts (Santiago, Chile.)

Jennifer Lauren Pelley
Illustrator

Jennifer is a recent graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She is an actress and director.

Charles Salzberg
essays and reviews editor

Charles is a New York based freelance writer and teacher. He has published a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction books. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Arts & Leisure section, Redbook, New York Magazine, Travel & Leisure and many others.

Tim Tomlinson
fiction

Tim’s fiction has appeared in The Missouri Review, North American Review, Libido, and elsewhere. He's published haiku in Modern Haiku, Time Haiku, and Black Bough. He's an occasional journalist, and a full time teacher, working at both NYU and the New York Writers Workshop.

Ryan Van Winkle
poetry editor

Ryan Van Winkle is 23 years old and lives out of a back pack. He has no permanent residence and is a happy freelance writer. He spends as much time naked as humanly possible. E-Mail him at ryan@smaxx.com.